Does anyone have any idea what this
<
http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/p-panel/front.jpg> is? The id tag
<
http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/p-panel/idplate.jpg> on the back calls it a
Programmer's Panel. As you can see it was built by Martin marietta and is
serial number 004. Most of the connections to it are made through two
connectors on the back panel
<
http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/p-panel/conns.jpg>. There's also one
connector on the side (sorry no picture this time). The side connector is a
male D(mumble) size connector with three rows of pins similar to that used
in the old SUN disk drives. It only uses a single card
<
http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/p-panel/inside.jpg> inside but the card is
nearly as big as the case. The card is one of the expensive Augut brand
wire wrap cards with machine turned pins and sockets that have a heavy gold
plating. Everything appears to be SSI TTL logic. All the electrical
connections are made via DIP style plugs and one ribbon cable along the
front edge of the card. In the picture you can see where I left two of them
unplugged. There's also a three digit numeric display in the back RH
corner. It seems to always display "300". Inside the case there is one
Acopian power supply and two ACDC power supplies. The card is in a frame
that has a neat tilt up feature. Just press in two spring loaded buttons in
the back corners and tilt the card anywhere that you want it. It will tilt
forward about 140 degrees allowing access to the back of the card. There's
also extra holes in the frame so that you can lock the card at the 90
degree position. I've shown that in one of the other pictures. The front
hinges are made with the same style spring loaded pins, so you can press
them in and completely remove the circuit card.
The front panel is very interesting. First, the switches all have three
positions. Most of them have two functions plus an off position. The one in
the lower LH corner, for example, clears the Entry register or complements
the entry that's already in it. Second, the panel has controls for just
about anything you can imagine. Note that it uses 16 bit data but only a 14
bit address.
Sorry for the crummy picture. I got home late and there wasn't enough
light for a decent picture. The first TWO sets of pictures didn't turn out
so I said the hell with it and used these. I did try using the camaera
flash but it made too much glare. I'll retake the pictures sometime when I
get home earlier.
Anybody have an idea of what kind of computer this was made for? The
case and wire wrap card look very promising for potential use as a future
Altair style computer.
Joe
Received on Tue Feb 05 2002 - 17:43:13 GMT
